Our nation celebrates the 14th of November every year as Children's Day for significant reasons. The day is the birth anniversary of Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru who was an ardent lover of children. The occasions reflects the importance the nation accords to the welfare of its young citizens and serves to focus our attention on their urgent neds. Today, after three decades of planned development, many millions of our children continue to live under conditions of deprvation and straggering hardship. Children's DAy remind us of the rights of these children to health, nutrition, clothing, shelter, and to educational and recreational facilities.

Indian has always recognised the potential of children as the richest of the resources for the development of the nation. This belief found expression in our pledge for global efforts to improve the lot of chldren. On the international front, India is one of the few developing countries in the world to formulate a National Plicy for children; and also he first country in the world to implement an Integrated Child Development Service Scheme (ICDS). National plans and programmes aiming at the total well-being of children are being rapidly expanded.

Yet the needs are multitudinous and the task stupendous. The experience of the past decades has clearly indicaed that the challenge of child welfare cannot be met by Government plans alone. Strengthening the community's responsibilities to itself is the need of the hour. Every person must participate in the cae of the children with the feeling that all children are one and are therefore entitled to the same amount of love, care and protection. Children's Day stamp each year,carries the special message that the society owes to its children the best it has.

The Department of Posts is happy to issue a special postage stamp on Children's Day, 1986.

Source : Information Folder issued by Indian Posts & Telegraph Department, Government of India